Pistol-caliber carbines, also known as PCCs or sometimes subguns, are a class of firearm with the characteristics of a rifle, such as a stock, handguard, and rifle-style sights, but are chambered in a caliber typically reserved for handguns. The concept is hardly a new one–lever-action rifles chambered in common revolvers calibers were quite popular in the American West in the early 20th century–but it’s one that is rapidly growing in popularity.
To get the full value out of a modern pistol-caliber carbine, though, you’ll need the right optic. While the .357 and .44 Magnum lever guns of yesterday may have been served perfectly well by iron sights, technology has advanced since the last heyday of the PCC. A modern red dot, prism scope, or other optic allows you to capitalize on the advantages of a PCC fully and maximize its capability.
Advantages of Pistol Caliber Carbines
What is a PCC? Simply put, it’s a firearm that has most of the attributes of a rifle, but is chambered in a caliber typically resolved for pistols. Despite the name, it doesn’t actually have to be a carbine; many large-format pistols that share features with carbines are still labelled PCCs, despite technically just being oversized pistols.
To understand why optic choice matters, it’s first necessary to understand why someone might choose a pistol-caliber carbine over a full-fledged rifle. After all, the size and weight of the two are not dissimilar, and in many cases the manual of arms is identical. PCCs often feel and handle just like rifle-caliber carbines, so why opt for a less powerful round? The reasons are many:
Recoil
Handgun rounds are inherently less powerful than rifle rounds. They’re smaller and have less capacity for propellant, meaning that even the most powerful of pistol cartridges will struggle to match the ballistics of even an intermediate rifle cartridge.
This also means, though, that the recoil will be correspondingly gentler. PCCs are exceptionally soft-shooting, making them excellent platforms for novice marksmen or anyone adverse to recoil.
Ammo/Magazine Compatibility
If you already have a handgun, a PCC has the potential to save you hundreds in ammo and equipment costs. PCCs inherently share ammunition with at least a few different models of handguns, and many even share magazines with the most common models, such as Glock, Beretta, or Ruger handguns. Because of this, many users can easily find a pistol-caliber carbine that can utilize their existing stash of ammunition and spare magazines, reducing their overall costs and simplifying their logistics.
Size & Weight
While PCCs are typically similar in size and weight to their full-powered brethren, they are typically slightly lighter and smaller. Because they are chambered in a smaller, less powerful round, they’re able to make use of smaller chambers and receivers.
Components like stocks, handguards, and grips are often the same, offering no weight reduction, but the difference in chamber and receiver size is often significant enough to offer a 10-20% reduction in weight compared to a similar rifle-caliber firearm.
This small differential is typically not enough on its own to sway users towards a PCC or proper rifle but may be considered as part of the larger picture when deciding between the two.
Short Barrel Performance
Most rifle rounds were designed and developed to be fired from a barrel of considerable length, often 16″ or more. For the most part, that’s not a bad thing, but if you’re after a pistol or short-barreled rifle, you may find that the performance of your ammunition significantly degrades below a certain length.
Because their cartridges were originally designed for pistols, often with barrels no longer than 5″, pistol caliber carbines do not share this limitation. In fact, in many cases, PCCs actually benefit from increased velocity and ballistic performance compared to handguns, owing primarily to their slightly longer barrels.
Suppressed Performance
Similarly, many rifle rounds can be difficult to suppress effectively. This is because they tend to rely heavily on high velocities in order to achieve terminal effectiveness, as is the case with common rounds such as .223 Remington/5.56 NATO. Reducing their velocity enough to prevent them from breaking the sound barrier would neuter them to the point of being nearly pointless.
Most handgun rounds, on the other hand, suppress quite effectively, as heavy-for-caliber subsonic rounds are available for most common cartridges. Certain rounds, such as .45 ACP, are even naturally subsonic in their most common loads.
Ammo Cost
This benefit will depend heavily on the cartridge in which your PCC is chambered, but it is possible to get a pistol-caliber carbine chambered in a cartridge that is significantly cheaper to shoot than any centerfire rifle round.
9mm, in particular, tends to be the most popular choice for an affordable PCC, but .38 Special is also frequently cheaper than most centerfire rifle rounds.
Effective Range and Accuracy of 9mm PCCs
Effective range is often cited as one of the primary drawbacks of pistol-caliber carbines, and it’s a fair criticism. An AR-15 chambered in 5.56×45 NATO can reliably engage a target at 500-600 yards. While the effective range of a PCC will depend heavily on the cartridge it is chambered in, none come close to matching that kind of capability.
9mm PCCs tend to be the most common, and so we’ll use that chambering as a benchmark. A 9mm PCC with a 16″ barrel can generally be considered effective for most purposes out to around 150 yards. While it’s certainly possible to land shots on paper targets at longer distances, beyond 150 yards most loads will struggle to strike a steel plate with enough authority to swing it noticeably and should not be relied on for terminal performance against game.
While this does unquestionably reduce the capability of the firearm compared to a true rifle, it’s important to keep in mind the use case these types of guns were designed for. PCCs are by their nature short-range firearms, intended to minimize recoil and maximize the user’s ability to rapidly engage targets at close range. They’re often popular picks for home defense, which seldom, if ever, requires shots at ranges beyond even 15 yards.
As such, while the reduced range of a PCC compared to a rifle is technically a drawback, it’s not one that is relevant to its intended purpose.
Zero Distance
In general, most 9mm PCCs should be zeroed between 20-25 yards. This zero ensures that rounds stay within a few inches of point of aim from point-blank distances out to a hundred yards.
Iron Sights
There’s no question that iron sights have served admirably for centuries, both on PCCs and every other type of firearm. But, just as scopes have slowly become synonymous with hunting rifles and red dots are becoming the default for tactical firearms, so too are optics becoming ubiquitous on PCCs.
The reason is simple; optics offer greater performance than iron sights are capable of. Modern optics allow for a target-focused approach, rather than forcing the user to divert their attention to the front sight prior to taking a shot. They’re faster to acquire, more visible in low light, and allow for more complex reticles than iron sights simply can’t.
However, this doesn’t mean that iron sights are without purpose or benefits. The primary reasons most cite for choosing iron sights over more sophisticated optics are durability and battery usage.
A more thorough review of the benefits of drawbacks of iron sights can be found in our article on red dot vs iron sights.
Durability
Iron sights are generally considered to be the pinnacle of durability when it comes to aiming systems. They are literally chunks of machined steel, with few, if any, moving parts to break or malfunction. Compared to glass lenses and dainty wires, it’s easy to see how iron sights can appear to be the more durable choice.
However, the truth is rarely that simple. While many iron sights are incredibly durable, they’re not invincible. Peep sights such as those found on an AR-15 can be bent or snapped, or have their attachment bolts come loose. Rifle or handgun sights that are pressed into place in a dovetail mount are notorious for being knocked off center following a hard fall.
Meanwhile, modern optics have been slowly ruggedizing for decades. Durability is one of the top demands of both professional military and police users and civilian marksmen alike, creating a huge demand for tougher and tougher optics. The result is that high-grade modern optics are often as tough or tougher than basic iron sights, despite being electrically powered and featuring glass lenses.
Battery Usage
Another oft-touted benefit of iron sights is their lack of battery usage. Because they require no battery to operate, users never need to worry about a battery running out. Iron sights don’t need to be charged, nor do they need to be turned on or have their brightness settings adjusted before use.
Here too, though, modern optics have slowly eroded away any advantage iron sights held. Many quality modern optics can run for years on a single battery, meaning that users can almost entirely eliminate their risk of encountering a dead battery simply by changing it proactively every other Christmas.
Similarly, many optics now offer automatic brightness adjustments or motion-sensing technology, eliminating the need to ever change your settings or turn your optic off.
Understanding PCC Optics
There is a wide array of suitable optics for a PCC, but it isn’t infinite. Red dots (both micro and full-sized), reflex sights, holographic sights, and prism optics are all excellent choices for a PCC, but larger, heavier magnified optics such as scopes simply don’t lend themselves well to this application.
Magnified scopes tend to be most useful at range, and are more difficult to use a short ranges than unmagnified optics. In addition, they tend to be larger and heavier than unmagnified optics. Since PCCs are seldom used at anything even approaching long range, scopes tend to accentuate a PCC’s weaknesses rather than augment its strengths.
Best PCC Optics
While variable and fixed power magnified optics may not be optimal for PCCs, that still leaves us with red dots, reflex sights, holographic sights, and unmagnified prisms to choose from. Below, we’ll take a look at the pros and cons of each, as well as some of the more popular models.
Reflex Sights
Technically speaking, “reflex sight” is a catch-all term that encompasses red dots, holographic sights, and more. It basically means any optic that projects a lighted reticle on a lens to allow for faster, more precise aiming.
In practice, though, “reflex sight” is typically used colloquially to refer to open emitter designs–that is, sights that have only a single lens and have their emitter exposed to the elements, such as a Trijicon RMR or Holosun HS510C.
While full-size reflex sights like the 510C are still quite popular, the most common application of reflex sights is currently in micro or mini configurations. These ultra-minimalist optics are frequently found mounted to pistol slides, where they are small and light enough not to interfere with a handgun’s operation or concealment.
Mini reflex sights such as the Primary Arms SLx® RS-10 are a popular choice for PCCs as well, particularly those in a pistol configuration. Their negligible added size and weight allow for faster aiming and target engagement without weighing down the firearm or slowing your ability to transition between targets. Since size and weight are often primary selling points for pistol-configuration PCCs, maximizing that benefit by opting for a mini reflex sight just makes sense.
For a more in-depth look at the difference between reflex sights and red dots, check out our article on reflex sight vs red dot.
Red Dots
Red dots are among the most popular long gun optics currently on the market, and for good reason. They’re durable, versatile, and extremely easy to use. Unlike open-emitter reflex sights, red dots utilize two or more lenses and a metal body to fully encase the emitter, protecting it from damage or obscuring by mud, rain, or other intrusive matter.
This can make them more reliable, particularly in use cases where exposure to mud, dirt, rain, or dust is likely to be common, such as on a rifle carried in the field when hunting or on patrol.
Full-sized red dot and larger microdots such as the Primary Arms SLx MD-25 Gen 2 offer large objective lenses for a greater field of view and an easier time locating the dot. While they do come with a bit more size and weight compared to their micro counterparts, many users find the increased lens size to be well worth the tradeoff.
Micro Red Dots
A micro red dot is in nearly all ways the same as a full-sized red dot, except that they occupy a smaller form factor. Typically, microdots have lenses around 20mm in diameter and are used in conjunction with minimalist mounts to achieve the smallest, lightest aiming solution possible with an enclosed tube.
A Holosun micro red dot like the 403 and 503 series of sights remains very popular for those who desire the size and weight of a mini reflex sight for their PCC, but are willing to compromise slightly in order to attain the durability of an enclosed-emitter red dot.
Holographic Sights
While often thought to be a type of red dot, a holographic sight is a different optic entirely. Red dots simply project a reticle on a lens using a crosshair, creating an aiming point. Holographic sights, on the other hand, use a lattice of lasers fed through a series of lenses, films, and reflectors to generate a reticle.
This unique system of projection has a number of advantages, but the most notable among them is that it can alleviate the symptoms of astigmatism that are often experienced with a red dot sight. While not always completely free of distortion, holographic sights can often reduce the smudging, starbursting, or other forms of distortion experienced by those with astigmatism when trying to use traditional red dots.
However, holographic optics tend to be on the larger side compared to most other red dots. While they are comparable in size and weight to many full-sized red dots, there are not currently any true holographic sights on the market that rival the small form factor of micro or mini red dots.
The most popular holographic sights are currently those produced by EOTech. Their EXPS and 512 sights remain popular with police and military users, as well as competitors and recreational marksmen. Either would be a strong contender for the best holographic sight for a PCC, particularly for users with astigmatism.
For a detailed breakdown of the differences between holographic sights and traditional red dots, we recommend our article on red dot vs holographic.
Prism Scopes
Last, but far from least, are prism optics. While most people have a general understanding of what red dots are and how they function, you may be wondering, what is a prism scope?
While technically a type of scope, unmagnified prism optics are utilized in much the same way as red dots. They offer the same speed of target acquisition, and while they cannot match the unlimited eye relief of a red dot, many models offer sufficient eye relief that they are very quick and easy to get behind, and quite forgiving of head position.
While a 9mm scope may seem like an unorthodox option, compact versions like the SLx 1x MicroPrism™ with a Gemini reticle offer many of the same benefits as a red dot, but with the added value of a more sophisticated reticle. The Gemini reticle features not only a chevron aiming point and large horseshoe, but also drop compensation aiming points and ranging tools.
In addition, prism optics feature etched reticles, meaning that they are visible with or without illumination and generally provide the least distortion for users with astigmatism.
At a size and weight not dissimilar to a micro red dot, there are few reasons not to opt for a microprism for your next PCC optic.
Conclusion
Pistol-caliber carbines are experiencing a resurgence, rapidly growing to be some of the most popular firearms for competition, home defense, and general range use. By outfitting your PCC with an appropriate red dot, reflex sight, or microprism, you can maximize its potential and squeeze the most performance out of it at the range.
